We kept going because we were still extremely late for the game, but a few miles down the road Hubie yelled up to Ross from the very back seat to close the windows because he was cold (the rear side windows opened/closed with a button up near the driver). Ross said he would and we got back to our normal conversation. About five more minutes down the road Hubie yelled up to Ross again to close the windows, and Ross insisted that he already had but tried it again. At this point everyone heard Soupy say, "Uhhh guys," and we turned around to see his arm going straight through where the left rear window once was! Apparently the gravel sound was the glass breaking and then hitting the van/Soupy who didn't seem to feel it all. After a few "Holy Sh**s!?!?" we decided to continue on to the game and inform the Niehaus's when we got back from the game. They took it rather well... they didn't seem very surprised at all.
Now, at this point I am sure you are all thinking, "Why in the name of everything Crazy would the Niehaus's ever let them take that van again?" But, for some reason we were driving it to the next game and many after that. The final mishap that occured in the van actually happened while Ross and I were participating in an annual scavenger hunt held by some girls from Staunton. The riskiest portion of the hunt was obtaining something that actually said, and I quote, "Construction Equipment: the larger the better." We just happened to have some laying around in the form of a few of those huge road barrels after a botched prank we pulled on a favorite teacher, and in the interest of safety (ironic, you will see later) we decided to back into the garage to load it. In the process, Josh somehow managed to back into the area of the garage door frame and house. Of course, in doing this he destroyed the left side of the rear fender and a good portion of the garage door frame, not to mention the portion of the house near the frame. The Niehaus's quickly came outside and although shocked by the sound it made... were not surprised. Mad, yes... surprised, no. Now, instead of staying home and not tempting fate with more bad luck, Ross and I decided to go back to see if we might actually win the scavenger hunt (we worked so hard on it that we couldn't resist). We left again with construction equipment in tow and a busted up taillight. Soon after, Ross's sister gave us a call asking to be picked up at Bernhardt's, and no one was at Harmon's yet (our scavenger hunt's finish line to compare items), so we decided to head over and get her really quick. For anyone not familiar with Gillespie's main street I'll explain the next part. Josh and I in the van approached the four-way stop from the South end and had to go straight to get to Bernhardt's at the same time a state cop approached from the West and had his left blinker on which would mean he would end up behind us (bad new for a busted out taillight and construction equipment in the back). So Ross, in his infinite wisdom, turned left without signaling. We headed towards Bernhardt's thinking that we had gotten away safely when the cop pulled up behind us in the parking lot behind the building and switched on his lights. Of course, he saw the equipment in the back which was half-covered with a blanket and proceeded to ask Ross for his license and registration. To make matters worse Ross had forgotten his license at home (sorta). The cop quickly advised us that stealing construction equipment was a federal offense, and if it wasn't for the scavenger hunt list which we used as an excuse, we probably would have been hauled off to jail. Instead, the cop told us to return everything we had taken along with telling all the other members of the hunt to do the same. He also gave us a nice ticket for having a busted out taillight AND a written warning for Josh not having his license on him. After he pulled away, we hurried over to tell the other scavenger hunters what had happened and then dumped the equipment off near Carlinville where he had taken it from. Shortly after this incident the Niehaus' van was traded in for a very nice, new van which they keep as far away from us as possible (I don't blame them). Hopefully, if nothing else you were slightly entertained by these strange stories of bad luck and misfortune. Thank you Niehaus's for all your troubles and for letting us use (and slightly destroy, on accident) your van! |